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Polex Dust Collection System at PCA Furniture

April 2010

Polex dust collectors are suited to a wide range of applications and have been used extensively over a broad cross-section of industries. The timber industry is particularly suited to Polex’s range of shaker and reverse-pulse dust collection systems.

PCA Furniture, a timber joinery company located in Corrimal, NSW selected Polex to supply a turn-key dust collection system to provide a dust free environment inside their production workshop.

Several woodworking machines required dust extraction, some of which included a table saw, thicknesser, band-saw and wide-belt sander. Polex designed a network of round ducting which connected individual ducts to each machine. The duct was designed to maintain constant air velocity to prevent dust drop-out inside the ducting. All ducting was supplied by Australian duct manufacturer, Ezi-Duct Pty Ltd. Polex prefers using Ezi-Duct ducting due to the smooth internal bore which minimises blockages. The ducting is fast to assemble and many of the components are ex-stock.

An important consideration in selecting the appropriate type of dust collector for each application is whether the dust collection system is to operate intermittently or continuously. It was decided that a shaker-type dust collector was suitable for this application since there wasn’t continuous use of machinery. A shaker-type dust collector has an automatic filter clean-down cycle which is activated when the fan is stopped. A vibrating motor which is directly coupled to the filter support frame runs for a present time, helping dust release from inside the cylindrical filter socks.

An important factor for PCA Furniture selecting Polex was the provision for future filtration capacity with business expansion and addition of new machinery. Polex’s Modular dust collector design was ideal for PCA’s requirements as it allows another filter module to be easily added with minimal changes to the existing dust collection equipment.

The final selection of equipment included a Modular Shaker Bag type dust collector with 20 m2 filter area and an 11 kW centrifugal fan capable of up to 4000 m3/h airflow capacity. The waste is discharged into a 3 m3 collection bin positioned under the hopper.

Heavy duty 100x100x3 mm SHS is used for the dust collector legs, making them suitable for all heavy duty industrial sites. The legs are hot dip Galvanised for long lasting corrosion protection. The heavy duty support frame insures that Polex dust collection units are suitable to withstand high wind loadings, making them suitable for indoor and outdoor locations.